Elijah Wood Gives 'Grand Piano' Preview

By DAVID WEINER

July 03, 2013

Elijah Wood has a variety of upcoming projects on his plate, including his much-talked-about suspense thriller Grand Piano. While promoting his new movie Maniac, the 32-year-old former The Lord of the Rings star set the record straight for ETonline that calling the film, described at one point as "Speed at a piano," is "a little misleading."

"Seventy-percent of the movie takes place in real time as [my character] plays a classical performance," explains Wood of the plot. "He returns to the stage after five years of being away from it, and he's held at gunpoint whilst the audience is unaware, while he's playing. So it's a suspense film at its heart, and it's so beautifully crafted and I'm excited for people to see it."

Written by Damien Chazelle and directed by Eugenio Mira, Grand Piano lensed last year in Barcelona and features an eclectic supporting cast of former '80s superstars, including John Cusack, Dee Wallace and Alex Winter.

So how are Elijah's piano-playing chops?

"I had taken lessons when I was younger but I'm not a pianist by any means," he says with a smile. "I had to do some major crash-course learning for the film. It was extremely challenging and a lot of fun."